I am a Ph. D. candidate in Sociology with emphasis in Global Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. My research interests revolve around transnational migration, transnational families, household economics, and the interplay between gender, migration, and globalization.
My dissertation project compares the household economic strategies of two transnational Mexican communities: Acayahualco, Guerrero/Santa Barbara, CA, and Mayanalan, Guerrero/Wilmington, DE. By utilizing a multi-sited, ethnography with a mixed methodology, I analyze the various livelihood tactics employed by households in these two communities. While the quantitative component is a 162-question instrument that randomly surveyed 94 households in the sending communities, the qualitative part is compromised by 50 open-ended interviews along with participant observation in both the sending and receiving communities. Particularly, I examine role that women play in the development and diversification of household economic strategies.
Publications:
Montes, Veronica. The Role of Emotions in the Construction of Masculinity: Guatemalan Migrant Men, Transnational Migration and Family Relations. Gender & Society. Forthcoming.
Grants, Awards and Distinctions:
Postdoctoral Research Fellow, 2013-2015 at USC, Departments of Sociology and the Center for the Study of Immigrant Integration (CSII).
2012: Dissertation Research Award, The Health Initiative of the Americas, School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley
2012-2013: UC-MEXUS Dissertation Research Grant
Veronica recently completed a two-year Mellon Postdoctoral position at the University of Southern California (USC). In fall 2015 Veronica will began teaching as an assistant professor in the Sociology Department at Bryn Mawr College, and will also serve as an affiliated faculty in the Latin American, Latino and Iberian People, and Culture program.